Gloomy Morning Still Brought Out the Members – The sausage and egg grill and pancake griddle warmed up the hanger nicely. Cracking the hanger door and back garage door kept smoke to a minimum. Breakfast service got underway on schedule. We ended up with about 54 in attendance for the meeting and 45 breakfasts sold.
Call to Order – President Dick Keyt called the meeting to order and asked to recognize guests in attendance. Mike Wagner, who recently joined the chapter, was called up front by Dick. Dick mentioned how Mike has offered his grass strip near Cleburne to be used by the Glider Club. Mike takes good care of the grass and rolls it smooth. Jerry McMillan has returned to Pecan and is in the process of building at the Landings. He is retired AA pilot and recently got his glider instructor rating. He is selling his Mooney Rocket and is on track to buy the Sampson Switchblade Flying Car! Bob Pastusek introduced Bill Judge (program speaker) and family.
Dick recognized the breakfast and setup crew for another tasty service.
Dick mentioned the success in getting a Ray Scholarship in 2024 where Tania Magallanes completed her private and is proceeding on with professional pilot training down in San Marcos. Dick asked Bruce McJunkin to discuss the pursuit of another scholarship in 2025. Bruce said a chapter track record in shepherding the recipient through certification is important to receiving future scholarships. He announced that EAA National has awarded 983 another scholarship in 2025 worth $12,000. He went on to announce that Mason Vickers was selected for this year’s recipient. Mason has been a mainstay at chapter events both individually and through Civil Air Patrol. Mason came to the front thanking the members for all the support over the years and promised to make them proud as he begins his pilot journey.
Geneva McJunkin mentioned she is planning to use Port Authority brand for First Flight jackets and 983 logoed shirts. She said the shirts can be long or short sleeve and with or without a pocket. She will be the point of contact for individual orders. The chapter will not be buying shirts in bulk for later sales.
Bob Pastusek announced that the September Fly In planning is underway. He, Konnie Sasser, and Tom Thibault have walked the grounds to assess available space for more classic cars and airplanes. He mentioned that he will be pressing to identify backup leads for each team executing the Fly In activities. This will allow the lead to get some time off for lunch and see the rest of the event. PLEASE VOLUNTEER!
Dick requested a volunteer to lead the Flying Start program this year. Tom Woodward, who led two prior events, will layout what the new leader needs to do. This is a one day event similar to Young Eagles but for adults learning about what it takes to become a pilot. EAA National provides all the materials. PLEASE VOLUNTEER!
Dick mentioned that Konnie Sasser is the current POC for memorial bricks at Planeview Park. The company selling them has offered free shipping for 100 or more. Dick was doubtful that 100 orders could be achieved but believes an alternate shipping approach could be arranged if they can be delivered to Oshkosh (the company is in Wisconsin). Dick also mentioned that Konnie has been doing this for about 10 years and would like to pass the responsibility on. PLEASE VOLUNTEER!
Safety Minute – Ed Askins brought up concern about helicopters operating at 0TX1 and not knowing what kind of patterns they were flying. Ray Lewis asked for clarification if he was including gyros in that concern which he acknowledged. Ray said the gyros typically fly a standard aircraft pattern and occasionally practice emergency vertical descents at the runway threshold with a short landing. It was discussed that Bob Moreau should be consulted for helicopter operations.
Don Christiansen was giving rides on a Sunday morning when there were low ceilings. He had to fly low over the crypto powerplant and encountered some significant turbulence from the hot air rising. This event reaffirmed his typical passenger briefing to snug the seat belts for just such an occurrence.
Next Fly In – Bob Pastusek announced that the next Fly In will be September 27th. He pleaded to get more volunteers involved. Many members were working the Fly In all day in a particular capacity and were unable to enjoy all that was going on. PLEASE VOLUNTEER!
Other Reports – Greg Walker requested that chapter members please pay their dues for 2025. Payment can be made at the meeting or online through the website. He also mentioned that a new batch of nametags were delivered at the last meeting and he will begin a new list for the next order. Bill Eslick is looking to see if his laser printer can be used to make them in house. Greg pressed the members to purchase the “Sectional Themed” aprons, coasters, and coffee mugs that have been in inventory for a long time. (we made a small dent on Saturday)
Featured Speaker – Following a short break, Bob Pastusek introduced Bill Judge, an RV-8 builder/flyer and owner of MonkWorkz, a one-man company building light-weight alternators for experimental aircraft. Bill is an electrical engineer and operations analyst for the US Navy, and will talk to us about designing and building reliable power systems for experimental aircraft. He has flown 1600 hours in his personally-built RV-8, and has 2600+ hours total time while flying through the backcountry out west, Canada, the Caribbean, and Baja, California.
Just like selecting your homebuilt project, mission requirements are key to a reliable and cost effective design that meets the intended purpose. Bill described the extremes of the simplest electrical system in VFR bug smashers to the IFR capable, dual battery, dual power generation system in cross country screamers like Bob Pastusek’s Lancair IV-P. He discussed pro’s and con’s of lithium aircraft batteries and emphasized the use of diodes to protect the essential bus from shorts in the primary system. Bill mentioned Shorai as alternative Lithium batteries that are about half the cost of EarthX and True Blue Power. Although it was unclear whether it had the Battery Management System(BMS) like EarthX that monitors charge levels and protects from overcharge or over-discharge. He also contrasted complex homebuilt electrical systems that have a massive number of costly circuit breakers versus a more cost effective architecture using less expensive fuse blocks and diodes. It is not recommended to reset a circuit breaker in flight when you don’t know what caused it to trip, whereas fuse blocks provide equivalent protection and should be placed in an easy to maintain location. Finally, Bill recommended all electrical terminations use aviation grade connectors with strain relief and high quality crimpers. Solder joints are prone to fatigue failures from vibration.
Monkworkz has developed a 2.6 pound, 30 amp, ~14.4 volt generator driven off the vacuum pad of a Lycoming engine. More compact than any other power source available for Lycoming engines with 3x the power of similar weight power sources. This generator is on several aircraft at Pecan including Michelle Sonier’s Lancair Legacy. It’s compact size helped the modified air induction project that Dick discussed in a prior meeting.
For more information on electrical system design and the MonkWorkz generator go to:
Website: https://monkworkz.com/
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8WwxHsmt9I
Thank you Bill for the very informative briefing!
VMC/IMC Club
Doug Crumrine (VMC) and Tom Woodward (IMC) were back as facilitators for this month. There was a good turnout with about 15-20 pilots and lots of great discussion. Topics included safety equipment (some requiring careful protection inside the airplane), autopilot anomalous behavior, and electrical snafu after maintenance. Tom Woodward collects a roster of all attendees for FAA Wings Credit.
Thanks to all who stayed to store the tables and chairs and help put the airplane back in the hanger.
